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Tauba Auerbach The New Ambidextrous Universe David Robilliard The Yes No Quality of Dreams 16 April — 15 June 2014 Educator’s Resource Pack Contents Aims of the Resource Pack Aims of the Resource Pack 3 This resource pack has been developed to support teaching and learning both at the ICA and offsite. It offers starting points and ideas for visiting educators to use with students. It was developed with GCSE and A-Level students in mind but is well suited for work with groups of all ages. Activities and About the /ICA Also Showing 4 discussion points are suggested and one of the key learning objectives is for students to develop their skills in aesthetic understanding and critical judgement. Students will be guided towards an analysis and exploration of how the artworks in Tauba Auerbach: The New Ambidextrous Universe and David An Introduction to Tauba Auerbach: The New Ambidextrous Universe 5 Robilliard: The Yes No Quality of Dreams reflect the social and cultural contexts in which they were made. Suggested activities are offered for use in the gallery and offsite. Tauba Auerbach: The New Ambidextrous Universe Exhibition Images 6-7 Tauba Auerbach Discussion and Activities 8-9 An Introduction to David Robilliard: The Yes No Quality of Dreams 10 David Robilliard: The Yes No Quality of Dreams Exhibition Images 11 David Robilliard Discussion and Activities 12-13 Art Rules 14 ICA Learning / Forthcoming Events 15-17 Useful Links and Resources 18 Photo: Paul Knight. Courtesy ICA. 2 3 About the ICA An Introduction to Tauba Auerbach The New Ambidextrous Universe The ICA supports radical art and culture. Through a vibrant programme of exhibitions, films, events, Tauba Auerbach: The New Ambidextrous Universe talks and debates, the ICA challenges perceived notions and stimulates debate, experimentation, creativity and exchange with visitors. The New Ambidextrous Universe is the first solo exhibition in the UK by San Francisco-born, New York- based artist Tauba Auerbach, who works in a wide variety of media including sculpture, photography, Founded in 1946 by a group of artists including Roland Penrose, Peter Watson and Herbert Read, the painting, weaving and book design. Auerbach takes a highly innovative approach to mechanical ICA continues to support living artists in showing and exploring their work, often as it emerges and processes and colour. Her ICA exhibition features newly created sculptures and photographs which before others. The ICA has been at the forefront of cultural experimentation since its formation and take as their starting point the scientific principles of symmetry and reflection as a means to hint at an has presented important debut solo shows by artists including Damien Hirst, Steve McQueen, Richard alternate, mirror universe. Prince and Luc Tuymans. More recently Pablo Bronstein, Lis Rhodes, Bjarne Melgaard and Juergen Teller have all staged key solo exhibitions, whilst a new generation of artists, including Luke Fowler, The word ambidextrous means equally strong on both the right and left. Auerbach has taken full Lucky PDF, Hannah Sawtell and Factory Floor have taken part in exhibitions and residencies. advantage of this physical concept of parity and reflection. Her seven sculptures, meticulously arranged by the artist herself, are displayed in the Lower Gallery in such a way that visitors are The ICA was one of the first venues to present The Clash and The Smiths, as well as bands such as encouraged to view the works from all sides and fully explore the artist’s use of symmetry and three Throbbing Gristle. The inaugural ICA / LUX Biennial of Moving Images was launched in 2012, and the dimensional space. The strong influence of physics and maths, rather than only aesthetics is visible ICA Cinema continues to screen rare artists’ film, support independent releases and partner with through the use of repeating patterns and mechanical processes. The artist has chosen to explore leading film festivals. the complex ideas examined in Martin Gardner’s book, The New Ambidextrous Universe, by creating sculptures that play with shape and space, allowing for a visual representation of the ideas of interconnectivity. Auerbach combines this emphasis on symmetry and reflection with the juxtaposition of opposites. Wooden works next to those of glass and metal, naturally occuring woodgrain versus brightly colored plastic, and the use of organic as well as more geometric shapes are some examples Also showing at the ICA of these contrasts. Auerbach’s recent solo exhibitions include Standard, Oslo (2013), Wiels Centre of Contemporary Art, Paperwork: A Brief History of Artists’ Scrapbooks Brussels; Malmö Konsthall, Malmö; and Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen (2011 – 2012). Recent group 1 April – 11 May 2014 exhibitions include Ecstatic Alphabets/Heaps of Language, 2012, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Fox Reading Room The Painting Factory, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and Lifelike, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Supported by Paula Cooper Gallery, STANDARD (Oslo), Tristan Capital Partners and the Tauba Auerbach Exhibition Supporters Group including Maya & Ramzy Rasamny, among others. www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions Walerian Borowczyk: The Listening Eye 20 May – 6 July 2014 Fox Reading Room www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions 4 5 Tauba Auerbach Tauba Auerbach The New Ambidextrous Universe The New Ambidextrous Universe Tauba Auerbach, installation view of The New Ambidextrous Universe IV, 2013 Tauba Auerbach, installation view of Knit Stitch, 2014. Photo: Paul Knight. Photo: Paul Knight. The New Ambidextrous Universe I, 2013, Plywood, .75 x 96 x 48 inches. Tauba Auerbach, installation view of S Helix, 2014. Photo: Paul Knight. Photo: Vegard Kleven Courtesy Standard (Oslo). 6 7 Discussion and Activities Discussion Activities • Auerbach’s work has been carefully arranged in the gallery. What aspects of the artist’s work are Create emphasised through the design of the space? • Auerbach uses the scientific principles of symmetry and reflection in her work to hint at an • What does Auerbach emphasise visually in her work? Describe the formal elements of each piece alternate mirror universe. Using a variety of media create a work of art that explores symmetry and and discuss the relationships between the works. reflection in relation to natural and man-made forms. • Auerbach has stated that she thinks more about maths than art history. Her work here is linked to • The New Ambidextrous Universe, a book by Martin Gardner, inspired Auerbach’s exhibition of the Martin Gardner’s book The New Ambidextrous Universe which is about modern physics. Do you same name. Choose a book that has had a significant impact on you and make the title the starting think it is important that the viewer understands the challenging concepts and scientific theories point for a series of works, experimenting with a variety of media. behind Auerbach’s work? How can the audience access a greater understanding of her work? • Analyse the term ‘ambidextrous’ and how we can understand the works in relation to this. Analyse • Why do you think Auerbach chose to explore scientific principles and systems of signification • Analyse how the work has been arranged in the gallery. Imagine you are a curator and through art? re-designing the exhibition. How might you arrange the works? Which works would you choose to highlight? How could you emphasise certain themes through the design of the space? • Explain how Auerbach has used colour in her work. How does the artist’s use of colour relate to the theme of the exhibition? • Auerbach is fascinated by the process of deconstructing systems of signification. Deconstruct a system of signification that interests you. Explore how the process of breaking down the structures • Auerbach uses a wide variety of materials - photography, plywood, aluminium, glass, metal and might open up new visual possibilities. Assess the success of these new visual possibilities – how stainless steel. Her work in general includes sculpture, photography, painting, weaving and book might you measure this? design. What does this broad range of materials and techniques suggest about the role of contemporary artists today? Experiment • Auerbach’s work has been described as conceptual, abstract and graphic. How would you • Auerbach combines her interest in spatial experience with her fascination with mechanical process categorise the works in the exhibition? and craft, as demonstrated by the work Knit Stitch (2014). Experiment with traditional crafts such as weaving, knitting and paper folding. Use drawing and diagrams to document the visual and tactile qualities of the materials and the underlying structures. 8 9 An Introduction to David Robilliard The Yes No Quality of Dreams David Robilliard: The Yes No Quality of Dreams Robilliard’s works are heavily based on his personal experiences but deal with the relatable themes The ICA brings together a selection of paintings by London-based poet and painter David Robilliard in of attraction, relationships and loneliness. His subjects include glances, arguments and everyday the first UK institutional exhibition for over twenty years. These intimate paintings combine figurative thoughts that define the way people interact with one another. By using single lines of poetry on the elements with text taken directly from Robilliard’s own poems. Coded and knowing, his evocative canvas, the artist draws the viewer’s attention to a subject but avoids making a firm comment on it. prose alludes to intimate sexual encounters and passing infatuations that ultimately conjure an image This careful composition allows viewers to draw their own meanings based on personal experience of 1980s queer London. and reflects the ambiguity that exists in social and emotional relationships Robilliard moved to London in 1975 and became close friends with Gilbert & George, momentarily Robilliard’s paintings appeared in numerous gallery exhibitions during his lifetime, as well as appearing in the filmThe World of Gilbert & George (1981). Commenting on him, they said, ‘His exhibiting in venues such as London’s Hippodrome and L’Escargot restaurant.